Chinese telecom company Huawei "has reaffirmed its sponsorship deal" with the National Rugby League Canberra Raiders "will not be impacted should the federal government refuse to overturn a ban on the Chinese company tendering for work on the National Broadband Network," according to Jon Tuxworth of the CANBERRA TIMES.
Reports suggested on Tuesday the Coalition "had decided to keep the ban in place, initiated by the Labor government early last year on advice from security agencies."
But Huawei Australia spokesperson Jeremy Mitchell said that "a decision had yet to be made, and its relationship with the Raiders will not be affected regardless of the outcome." Huawei signed a two-year, A$1.7M ($1.6M) deal to be the NRL club's major sponsor early last year. Mitchell said, "The Raiders are nothing to do with the NBN. We signed up to the Raiders without an NBN contract, and we re-signed with the Raiders without an NBN contract" (CANBERRA TIMES, 10/29).